


nightmares

by onlyeverthus



Category: Tangled (2010)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-28
Updated: 2014-02-28
Packaged: 2018-01-14 01:20:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1247383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/onlyeverthus/pseuds/onlyeverthus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rapunzel has nightmares about losing what she's found.</p>
            </blockquote>





	nightmares

The first nightmare is three days after she comes home, and she jerks awake, eyes wide as she stares at the glass doors to her balcony.

The slow creak of the hinges still echoes in her head, the image of Gothel creeping towards her, a crone with snow white hair and gnarled fingers and a hunched back. Gothel, coming for her, coming to take her away again and lock her in that tower for the rest of her life.

It's impossible, she knows it is. She saw Gothel fall, saw the empty dress and cloak when she and Eugene emerged from the tower, saw the whitish powder on the grass and knew that Gothel was gone.

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, quite literally.

For a long while, she can't move, huddled under the covers, staring at the doors, too scared to get up and check, too scared to go back to sleep.

Finally, when nothing else in her room moves, when she hears no other sounds, she takes a deep breath and eases the covers aside. She starts to lower her feet to the floor, and then hesitates, suddenly imagining hands darting out from under her bed.

"Don't be stupid," she whispers. "There's nothing under there."

Taking another deep breath, she leaps out of bed, landing lightly on the floor a couple of feet from the bed, and tiptoes over to the doors. 

The latch is still securely in place, as she knew it would be, but she grabs a nearby chair and wedges it under the handles for good measure.

Feeling somewhat more at ease, she climbs back into bed and under the covers, but it's a while before she can go back to sleep.

 

 

The next day, she asks her parents if she can paint the walls of her room, and after breakfast, she heads into the village to buy some paints.

By dinner, colorful lanterns cover the wall beside her balcony doors, and she feels much calmer. The lanterns are what brought her here, the lanterns connect her to her parents, and they help remind her that this is her home now, that nobody can make her leave again.

 

 

That night, she sleeps peacefully.

 

 

Another nightmare plagues her sleep two weeks later.

Eugene dies in her arms again, but this time her tears don't bring him back. This time there is no golden light, no shadow of the flower that bestowed its powers upon her. This time he doesn't wake up, and she sits with him, unable to let him go, unable to leave him.

_You were my new dream._

_And you were mine._

"Eugene!" she sobs when she wakes up, tears streaming down her cheeks and soaking her pillow. "Eugene!"

There's a sudden urgent tapping on her bedroom door, followed by a familiar voice saying her name, and she scrambles out of bed, almost running into the door in her haste to answer it.

"Eugene!" she exclaims, throwing her arms around him and sobbing into his shirt.

"What is it?" he asks, alarmed, his arms going around her without hesitation. "What happened?"

"You died! In my dream, you died, and you didn't come back this time! I thought I lost you forever –"

"No, hey, I'm here," he murmurs, lifting his hand to the back of her head. "I'm right here."

She pulls back to look up at him, and his hand slides to the side of her head, a smile curving his lips as he strokes her cheek with his thumb.

"I'm right here," he says again. "You're stuck with me, Blondie."

A soft, shaky laugh escapes her, and his smile widens as he lifts his other hand to face, wiping her tears away with his fingers before dipping his head to touch a light kiss to her lips.

When he pulls back, she hugs him again, pressing against his chest, and then mumbles, "Will you stay with me?"

"If you want me to."

She nods, stepping back and reaching for his hand.

They climb into bed together, and she immediately curls against his side, resting her head on his chest as his arm slides around her shoulders. He feels solid, and warm, and comforting, and she sighs happily, reassured of his presence.

"I'm right here," he whispers once more, and she hums contentedly as she drifts off to sleep.

 

 

After that night, he always shares her bed, and after that night, she never has another nightmare.


End file.
